US District Court Upholds SEC Conflict Minerals Disclosure Rules

On July 23, 2013, the US District Court for the District of Columbia upheld the conflict minerals rules that require public companies to disclose whether "conflict minerals" are necessary to the functionality or production of products they manufacture or contract to be manufactured. The ruling comes just weeks after the Securities and Exchange Commission’s most recent loss in a parallel legal challenge to the resource extraction payment rules. Following the court's decision, the conflict minerals rules continue to apply without change and companies subject to these rules will have to comply by filing their conflict minerals disclosure, if required, on new Form SD by May 31, 2014.